Hari om everyone,
Hope you all had a wonderful deepaavaLi celebration! After a long time, we had our full session dedicated to learning (we had so many fun events and celebrations last month :). We learnt to chant BG dhyaanam till verse 5 and Ch. 1 till verse 5 as well. Below are the next set of recordings for practice -
We continued our revision with Chapter 4 of BhagavadGeeta.
We learnt that this chapter is called 'karma-sanyaasa yoga'. It doesn't mean that we renounce doing karma, but we disconnect from the fruit of the karma. We learnt the meanings of a few verses from this chapter. One of them is - 'he who sees inaction in action, as well as action in inaction, is a yogi'. We explored the deeper meaning of this verse. We understood that the actions being done shall remain the same, but the attitude is what makes all the difference! We discussed examples from the mahaabhaarata as well as real life. Both Duryodhana and Arjuna fought the war. But Krishna condemned Duryodhana while he gave the whole 18 chapters of Bhagavadgeeta explaining to Arjuna why he MUST fight the war! The action (war) was the same, but the intentions led them to their different outcomes. Similarly, we should study to better our knowledge rather than to surpass someone with a better score. The action (of studying or learning) shall still be done but with the right spirit.
We discussed about the 3 guNas - sattva, rajas, tamas. We are all a mix of all the 3, in different proportions. ANY kind of learning can happen ONLY when one is in sattva. When rajas is more, we get jittery or jumpy. When tamas is more, we yawn or become weary in class. So, we promised to bring the 'sattva best versions' of ourselves to class always :). We need different guNa-s for different things. To execute a plan, we need rajas; when we are tired, even to fall asleep, we need tamas. We understood NOT to label any of them as good or bad.
We further revisited a hot topic that seems to be a taboo on our culture - Caste system. We learnt that the Caste system was NOT made the way it is perceived today. Caste was never decided based on birth, whereas it was determined by a person's predominant predisposition. It was called 'varNa'. By birth, all of us are shoodra-s (janmanaa jaayate shoodraH). We show our prominent attributes as we grow.
We then mapped the 'caste system' with the example of a school for children. Even to run such an organization, we find that all the 4 castes are essential!
- The principal, the decision-maker, is the braahmaNa
- teacher, the war-front (who face the students :) are the kShatriyas (the executioners)
- parents, the financiers, are the vaishyas (taxpayers are the ones who fund the school structure)
- custodial staff and janitors, the cleaning personnel, are the shoodras
We practised BG ch. 1 - verse 1 and 2 with Swamiji's recording on our class TV at the end of class.
Important: Please read through all the four notices below.
- Set your clocks back next week. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep and come to BV on time.
- Next Sunday, we will be taking class pictures to be put in the Vrindavan Surabhi souvenir. Please make sure to come dressed in colorful Indian attire :)
- Diwali project was announced. We are asking each child to bring in JUST ANY ONE of these items - pasta box or mac 'n' cheese box or cereal box or one peanut butter.
- Our class is assigned for the annadaanam seva this month, along with 1st graders - Saturday, Nov 16th. Below is the link. We are blessed to have this opportunity and the ability to share with those less fortunate. Please sign up and bring food generously! The annadanam (soup kitchen) sign up sheet link is https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409044fa4a72aa1fa7-balavihar1
Regards,
Rashmi and Kishore.
Rashmi and Kishore.
